Bruce McLaren

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Bruce McLaren
Formula One Career
Nationality	New Zealander
Active years	1959 - 1970
Team(s)	McLaren, Cooper, Eagle
Grands Prix	104
Championships	0
Wins	4
Podium finishes	27
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	3
First Grand Prix	1959 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1959 United States Grand Prix
Last win	1968 Belgian Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1970 Monaco Grand Prix

Bruce Leslie McLaren (born August 30, 1937– died June 2, 1970), born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor.

His name lives on in Team McLaren which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, with McLaren cars and drivers winning a total of 19 world championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring.

As a nine year old, McLaren contracted a disease in his hip which left his left leg shorter than the right. He spent two years in traction, but later often had a slight limp.

Les and Ruth McLaren, his parents, owned a service station and workshop in Remuera, Auckland. Bruce spent all of his free hours hanging around the workshop.

Les McLaren restored an aging Austin 7 Ulster which 14-year-old Bruce used in 1952 when he entered his first competition, a hillclimb. Two years later he took part in his first real race and showed promise. He moved up from the Austin to a Ford 10 special and a Austin-Healey, then a F2 Cooper-Climax sports. He immediately began to modify and improve it—and master it—so much so that he was runner-up in the 1957–8 New Zealand championship series.

His performance in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1958 was noted by great Australian driver Jack Brabham (who would later invite McLaren to drive for him). Because of his obvious potential the New Zealand International Grand Prix organisation selected him for its ‘Driver in Europe’ scheme designed to give a promising Kiwi driver year-round experience with the best in the world. McLaren was the first recipient and Denis Hulme was another later.

McLaren went to Cooper and stayed seven years. He raced in F2 and was entered in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in which F2 and F1 cars competed together. He astounded the motor racing fraternity by being first F2, and fifth overall, in a field of the best drivers in the world.

McLaren joined the Cooper factory F1 team alongside Jack Brabham in 1959 and won the 1959 United States Grand Prix at age 22 years 104 days, becoming the youngest ever GP winner up to that time. He followed that with a win in the Argentina Grand Prix, the first race of the 1960 Fomula One season. (Forty three years later, another Kiwi racer, Scott Dixon, would become the youngest ever winner in any major open-wheel racing formula anywhere in the world when he won the CART Lehigh Valley GP in the US when 20 years, 9 months and 14 days old.)

McLaren won the Monaco Grand Prix in 1962. The next year he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, which remains in the Formula One championship simply as Team McLaren. McLaren continued to race and win in Coopers (including the New Zealand GP in 1964).

McLaren left Cooper at the end of 1965, and announced his own GP racing team, with co-driver and fellow Kiwi Chris Amon. Amon left in 1967 to drive for Ferrari. In 1968, McLaren was joined by fellow Kiwi Denis Hulme, who had become world champion in 1967. McLaren won his first GP in his own McLaren car at Spa in 1968 and Hulme won twice in the McLaren-Ford. In tribute to his homeland, McLaren's cars featured the "speedy Kiwi" logo.

It was in powerful sports car racing where McLaren's design flair and ingenuity were graphically demonstrated. Just as the CanAm Series began to become very popular with fans in Canada and the U.S., the new McLaren cars finished second twice, and third twice, in six races.

In 1967 they won five of six races and in 1968, four of six. The following year McLaren’s proved unbeatable, winning 11 of 11 races. In one race, they finished 1-2-3. (McLaren, Hulme and Dan Gurney).

In 1966 he and co-driver Chris Amon won the prestigious 24 Hour race at Le Mans in a GT40

Contents 1 Death 2 Legacy 3 Complete F1 Results 4 External links

[edit] Death

Bruce McLaren died when his own CanAm car crashed at the Goodwood Circuit on June 2, 1970 in England. He had been testing his new M8D when the rear bonnet came adrift at speed. The loss of aerodynamic downforce destabilized the car, which left the track and hit a flag station.

[edit] Legacy

• In 2000 Motorsport NZ and the Prodrive Trust created the The Bruce McLaren Scholarship to help up and coming New Zealand racing drivers.
• He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.
• He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.
• The Bruce McLaren Trust, based in Auckland, New Zealand, perpetuates his memory and runs a small museum from the flat where Bruce grew up (above a petrol station in Remuera)

[edit] Complete F1 Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Team	WDC	Points
1959	Cooper	MON 5	IND	DUT	FRA 5	GBR 3	GER ret	POR ret	ITA ret	USA 1					Cooper	6th	16.5
1960	Cooper	ARG 1	MON 2	IND	DUT ret	BEL 2	FRA 3	GBR 4	POR 2	ITA	USA 3				Cooper	2nd	34
1961	Cooper	MON 6	DUT 12	BEL ret	FRA 5	GBR 8	GER 6	ITA 3	USA 4						Cooper	8th	11
1962	Cooper	DUT ret	MON 1	BEL ret	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 5	ITA 3	USA 3	SAF 2					Cooper	3rd	27
1963	Cooper	MON 3	BEL 2	DUT ret	FRA 12	GBR ret	GER ret	ITA 3	USA 11	MEX ret	SAF 4				Cooper	6th	17
1964	Cooper	MON ret	DUT 7	BEL 2	FRA 6	GBR ret	GER ret	AUT ret	ITA 2	USA ret	MEX 7				Cooper	7th	13
1965	Cooper	SAF 5	MON 5	BEL 3	FRA ret	GBR 10	DUT ret	GER ret	ITA 5	USA ret	MEX ret				Cooper	9th	10
1966	McLaren	MON ret	BEL	FRA	GBR 6	DUT	GER	ITA	USA 5	MEX ret					McLaren	16th	3
1967	McLaren	SAF	MON 4	DUT ret	BEL	FRA ret	GBR ret	GER ret	CAN 7	ITA ret	USA ret	MEX ret			McLaren	14th	3
1968	McLaren	SAF	ESP ret	MON ret	BEL 1	DUT ret	FRA 8	GBR 7	GER 13	ITA ret	CAN 2	USA 6	MEX 2		McLaren	5th	22
1969	McLaren	SAF 5	ESP 2	MON 5	DUT ret	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 3	ITA 4	CAN 5	USA ret	MEX DNS			McLaren	3rd	26
1970	McLaren	SAF ret	ESP 2	MON ret	BEL	DUT	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA	MEX	McLaren	14th	6

[edit] External links

• Bruce McLaren Photos
• Bruce McLaren Trust official site

Preceded by: Dan Gurney

Brands Hatch Race of Champions winner 1968

Succeeded by: Jackie Stewart